No, I am not "inventing" anything. HP and kW are the most common measure of power for automobiles in the U.S. In Europe (except England) and Japan, they use PS. PS stands for Pferdestarken, which means "horse power" in German. This measurement was calculated based on the metric system, so sometimes, it is referred to as French horsepower. The calculation is based on the power it takes to lift 75 kg of weight 1 m in 1 sec: 0.7355kW

The HP we commonly use -- English horsepower -- is based on James Watts' calculation of 1HP=550 foot-pounds per second: 0.7457kW.

Therefore, 1PS=0.986HP

The 280PS listed on Nissan's Japanese spec would be:

280 x 0.986 = 276.08HP

So my rough guess I was off by a horse. This is pretty basic stuff. Before you start flaming people and accusing them of "inventing" stuff, why don't you do a bit of research, Mr. Mechanical Engineer.

 

nice job Mr SPF, I knew they guy was in BIG trouble, because I read a lot of Euro car mags and many of they put the "PS" nomenclature on thier and NOT the HP.

CAn you tell me this, what is hte difference between "DIN" and "SAE" horsepower???

 

SAE HP is what the US automakers use to describe their car's output. SAE (Gross) Horsepower used to measure the engine with all of the accessories off, so the numbers are always higher than DIN horsepower. Nowadays, US automakers use SAE Net HP, which measures at the flywheel with all the accessories on, so the numbers are closer to DIN.

DIN horsepower is what German Automakers used, measured with all the accessories on. This number is based on PS I believe.